Acclaimed writer Elizabeth Royte, author of Garbageland, takes the bottled water industry to task in her new book Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It. Royte examines our contemporary trash and water crises by looking at the culture and economy that have made bottled water a $60 billion dollar a year industry - despite the fact that our plastic waste is out of control.

Royte goes right to one source of the fad - Fryburg, Maine, where residents are battling the extraction of their spring water for bottling by Poland Spring.   She investigates not only the environmental consequences of billions of bottles of water being produced, but also looks at the state of tap water today, and the social impact of multinational corporations seeking the ever diminishing supplies of fresh water from tiny rural towns.

The book makes the case for protecting public water supplies, improving water infrastructure, and better allocating the water that does remain in a world facing increasing drought and pollution. Read and excerpt from the book here. You can also and check out Royte’s water links, which provide important information about drinking water and filtered water, fluoride in tap water, and more about water and privatization.

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